Riley's Ghost
by John David Anderson (Author)
From John David Anderson, acclaimed author of Posted, comes a ghost story pulled from the darkest shadows of middle school.
Riley Flynn is alone. It feels like she's been on her own since sixth grade, when her best friend, Emily, ditched her for the cool girls. Girls who don't like Riley. Girls who decide one day to lock her in the science closet after hours, after everyone else has gone home.When Riley is finally able to escape, however, she finds that her horror story is only just beginning. All the school doors are locked, the windows won't budge, the phones are dead, and the lights aren't working. Through halls lit only by the narrow beam of her flashlight, Riley roams the building, seeking a way out, an answer, an explanation. And as she does, she starts to suspect she isn't alone after all. While she's always liked a good scary story, Riley knows there is no such thing as ghosts. But what else could explain the things happening in the school, the haunting force that seems to lurk in every shadow, around every corner?
As she tries to find answers, she starts reliving moments that brought her to this night. Moments from her own life...and a life that is not her own.
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Booklist
It’s Riley’s eventual realization that everyone deserves to be seen and heard by someone, to be remembered, that both provides the key to her escape and allows Anderson to pull off an unexpectedly upbeat, and reassuring, ending. A tale to test the nerve of all fifth-graders who are looking ahead to junior high and finding themselves anxious about what’s in store.
Copyright 2021 Booklist, LLC Used with permission.
Publishers Weekly
White seventh grader Riley Flynn is still smarting from being rejected by her best friend Emily when a run-in with a group of "vindictive volleyballers" angry about an altercation in science class concludes with Riley being locked in a supply closet long after school ends. After escaping the closet, Riley discovers that she has bigger problems: the school doors are locked tight, the phones aren't working, and a dissected frog from science lab that claims to be a vessel for a ghost follows her, trying to communicate something. As Riley searches for an exit, the lights go out and she begins to see visions, "like a movie projected onto the inside of her skull," of someone else's tortured middle school memories. Riley, sensitive and lonely yet given to bouts of rage, is an appealingly honest middle school protagonist; Anderson (One Last Shot) begins chapters with memories of her past that relate to her current predicament, adding context to the tween's social struggles. Though a bit overstuffed at times, the well paced, legitimately creepy tale powerfully conveys the pain of being a middle school outcast--and the importance of being seen. Ages 8-12. Agent: Josh Adams, Adams Literary. (Jan.)
Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
JUV035000 - Juvenile Fiction | School & Education
JUV069000 - Juvenile Fiction | Ghost Stories
